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[For students]
Do you always tell yourself the truth? Can we always trust science to tell us the truth? In this course, we will explore deception, self-deception, science and pseudo-science. Though appearing to be different topics, they are united under the banner of, “Can human beings ever really know the truth, including the truth about themselves, and if so, how?”
Academic inquiry is structured around responding to the statements of others: “They Say / I Say.” They say, “______ ,” to which I say, “_____ .” I can agree, disagree, partly disagree and partly agree, etc. It is like normal conversation except that it is more rigorous in its claims and more structured in its communication, and it conforms to academic conventions of style and citation.
[For students]
This course will take you the next step forward from ENG 101 in purposeful reading and thinking and in evidence-based academic writing. You will further your ability to engage in academic conversation with other writers and with your peers.
Academic inquiry is structured around responding to the statements of others: “They Say / I Say.” They say, “______ ,” to which I say, “_____ .” I can agree, disagree, partly disagree and partly agree, etc. It is like normal conversation except that it is more rigorous in its claims and more structured in its communication, and it conforms to academic conventions of style and citation.
The vehicle for your acquisition of academic skills is a topic that is difficult even for the world’s best thinkers in science and philosophy: CONSCIOUSNESS. We will listen to interviews and academic lectures, and we will read and discuss articles written by philosophers and neuroscientists who study the phenomenon of consciousness from a variety of perspectives.
You will write an essay in which you argue for a definition of consciousness. You will write a longer research essay in which you apply your definition to one aspect of consciousness, study the aspect in depth, and argue for the conclusions you have reached as a result of your study.
[For students]
This course will assist you, as current engineering students and as future engineers, in effectively presenting various types of information in both written and oral modes. You will be expected to become competent in writing and organizing technical reports and in effectively presenting academic and technical papers. The tasks performed in the course will mirror the tasks you will do in your faculty classes and in your prospective professional lives.
ENG 312 introduces undergraduate students to short fiction from a writer’s point of view. Students learn that the first job of a creative writer is to notice, to see the world around them. They learn to see the elements of fiction — including character, plot structure, point of view, setting, description, and dialogue — in well-crafted short stories. They learn to see these elements through discussions of stories with their peers. They engage in a process in which they make a story that involves readers in a structured, meaningful experience.
- Effective teaching is humanistic. I build relationships of trust. “They don’t care what you know until they know that you care” is trite because true.
- Knowledge is constructed. Perception is world construction. Reading is knowledge construction.
- Writing is discovery.
- Academic writing is conversation. The concepts behind “They Say, I Say” are woven through my 101 and 102 courses. Also, the study of every text begins with rhetorical analysis and questions about the conversation between text and audience.
- Feedback is essential to learning. All learning requires feedback. I give rich feedback.
- I make corrections to word choice, collocations, and grammar. How can students learn the best word or phrase for a context unless they are told?
- I add annotations about sources, logic, analysis, synthesis, or apparent contradictions in sources or analysis.
- I summarize my response. Positive feedback tends to produce better work than negative, so I start by telling students what they did right so they have something to build on in the next draft.
Too numerous to list, but they include teacher-training textbooks, curriculum guides, articles, major conference keynote addresses, and scores of workshops. The most recent presentation was given at the 6th BUSEL Conference at Bilkent University, on 12 July 2019. It was titled “ENG 101 In-class Writing: Trust!” and was about increasing student autonomy in university composition courses.
I write poetry and have participated in Bilkent English Department poetry readings, at which I have received positive feedback from faculty members. I have been asked why I don't publish: My answer is that nothing I write is ever finished; it just temporarily exhausts my ingenuity.
I was born in western Canada and was raised in western Canada and Hawaii. I have lived in California, Texas, Utah, and Oregon. I have taught English, trained teachers, trained the trainers of teachers, given workshops, written materials, and directed projects in over a dozen countries, predominantly in Asia and the Middle East.